when we were young

still can't see

- before any of y'all read this book please know of the content warnings i put in the beginning of each chapter if it's needed.

-also the first few chapters have intentional lowercase because back when i first started this fic, i never expected anyone beyond me and my friend to ever read it but i'm so thankful so many of you have. a lot of the relationships in this fic and especially just y/n as a character are very personal to me and i hope you all can connect to them in one way or another. enjoy :)

-also i have an insta for this fic it's @retroackermanS lol okay go read now

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LIBERIO, MARLEY / YEAR 843

you let out an exhale as your eyes flutter open and you see a familiar blonde standing over you, giving you those familiar cold eyes as if she was trying to tell you "what the hell are you doing."

it was annie, not to your surprise. besides your family she knew this was your favorite spot to take naps. the spot was in an open field near your very own home and stood planted into the ground was an enormous oak tree with lots of shade that stood next to a little lake.

you had known the blonde since you entered the warrior training program about three years ago. you were eight now and as was annie. you had showed her this spot all those years ago on those training days where it was harder than others.

you had told her you liked to sit here and watch the tiny ripple of waves in the lake crash into each other, it was relaxing. so relaxing it also grew to be the best nap spot in liberio for yourself. annie lived a little bit outside of liberio with her dad, who you only met a handful of times. it was always annie coming back to you now that you thought of it. coming to your house, meeting up with you at training and coming to this spot.

still lying down, it's almost like your words took over before you can realize what you say to annie;

"annie, you look younger."

not even understanding yourself, annie scrunches her face at you and you begin to sit up.

"what is that even supposed mean, idiot."

you scoff and push her shoulder. you smile at her and look at the lake. it was nothing compared to the ocean despite only seeing it a handful of times during some special events marley had there. on those days they had to take the eldians somewhere else to punish them. when you were at the ocean on those special occasions you tried to enjoy it with all your friends. annie specifically but there was also bertholdt, marcel and reiner. but thoughts of eldians falling to their death to become mindless creatures always intruded your mind. the ocean, more like that area, almost felt haunted by the tens of thousands eldians killed there.

but when that wasn't on your mind those days you got to be at the ocean, you liked to look out into the horizon. that endless horizon. all you saw was sky for forever and the water, but you heard the stories of what was really over there and some days you could've sworn maybe it was in your blood, because curiosity always found it's way to eat away at you. it made you feel crazy and like it was in your blood specifically for even thinking such a thing because every time you mentioned it to your friends you were given a variance of the answer of a "who cares" or a "why do YOU care?" like you were absolutely insane for even asking or having the thought cross your mind.

and they were right. why did you care so much or even think about it. you had your goals here and you knew what your duty was. you had to live to achieve the ultimate goal, to be an honorary marleyan.

but forget the ocean, who cared what happened there, what was in it or what was on the other side for that matter. you'd probably always prefer this little lake with this tree. it was comforting, you could see the beginning and end of it, it was familiar, it was nice.